Christmas imagery
In ‘A Christmas Memory,’ Capote uses imagery to capture the festive season. For example, he describes how the children make a fruit cake, and the winter weather. Additionally, he makes the houses seem comfortable and cosy, protected from the weather outside: “A great black stove is its main feature; but there is also a big round table and a fireplace with two rocking chairs placed in front of it. Just today the fireplace commenced its seasonal roar.”
Mrs. Miller
Capote uses imagery to describe Mrs. Miller, emphasizing the fact she is alone and is a creature of habit. In the following passage, Capote describes her as being generally unaware and naive, comparing her to a blind mole: “oblivious as a mole burrowing a blind path.”
Dreams
The narrator describes Mrs. Miller’s troubling dreams, including one where “a small girl, wearing a bridal gown and a wreath of leaves, led a grey procession down a mountain path.” The narrator uses imagery to describe her dreams, which associates Miriam with the coldness of winter. For example, Miriam is compared to a “frost flower.”
Miriam
When describing Miriam, the narrator uses imagery to emphasize her otherworldliness. For example, her fingers are described as “sensitive and musical-looking” and her eyes are described as “lacking any childlike quality whatsoever.”
